Minnesota Monthly sold to Detroit company

Article by: Kristin Tillotson

Star Tribune

July 31, 2013 - 10:09 AM

American Public Media Group, parent company of Minnesota Public Radio, is getting out of the print business.

APMG has sold Greenspring Media, its for-profit publishing arm, to Detroit-based Hour Media LLC. Greenspring, which publishes magazines including Minnesota Monthly, Midwest Home and Where Twin Cities, will keep its headquarters in St. Paul and retain all of its approximately 50 employees, said spokeswoman Angie Andresen.

MPR donors who receive free home delivery of Minnesota Monthly as a membership perk will continue to do so.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Asked why APMG was letting its print division go, President Jon McTaggart said that Greenspring, founded in 1985, is “best served by an owner committed to the publishing industry, with expertise, strategic interests and resources to help those publications thrive.”

Hour Media publishes the city-lifestyle magazine Hour Detroit and several other Detroit-focused titles, including DBusiness and Detroit Home, in both online and print formats. In addition to Greenspring’s magazines, the company will also acquire its Twin Cities events, including Minnesota Monthly’s Food & Wine Experience.

President and publisher Steve Fox, who has run Greenspring for 25 years, will step down. Vice president of sales Jamie Flaws, a former Star Tribune ad executive, will take over as publisher. Hour Media publisher John Balardo will oversee Greenspring as president.

Balardo said in a statement that its platform “is a very synergistic fit for our organization” and called the Twin Cities “a great magazine market.”

Tim Gihring, a Minnesota Monthly contributing editor and former full-time staffer, said the sale seems like a “good-case scenario” for the magazine’s content.

“My sense is they’re coming from a very traditional point of view on quality service journalism, and will retain editorial integrity instead of turning it into a glorified shopper,” Gihring said.